Managers at Nantes do not last long under Waldemar Kita. Appointed in December, when the side were struggling near the foot of Ligue 1, former Portugal international Sérgio Conceição became the club’s 12th head coach since President Kita arrived in 2007. Kita’s volatile and overbearing demeanour has often been a contributing factor in this rapid turnover, his attitude notably forcing Michel der Zakarian’s exit at the end of last season.

Despite surviving for four years, returning the club to Ligue 1 and comfortably keeping them there for three seasons amid significant financial restraints, Der Zakarian’s already frosty relationship with the president became tumultuous and his contract was left to run out at the end of last season. “I no longer want to work with Mr. Kita. So, I’ll stop,” said the Armenian coach. When he tried to bid farewell to the Nantes supporters after his final home game, Kita ordered his words to be drowned out by blaring music from the Stade de la Beaujoire sound system – a petty way to end a successful chapter in the club’s recent history.

With Der Zakarian swiftly shuffled along, Kita wasted no time in presenting René Girard as his replacement. Just eight league games into his reign, Girard was already on thin ice, reportedly telling his players that he would be sacked if they lost to Bastia after a string of laboured showings. They won 1-0 but Girard was on his way seven weeks later after a 6-0 home thumping from Lyon. Neither Girard nor Der Zakarian gave the fans and the president what they craved: goals.

Ligue 1 is a division often economical with its distribution of goals but Nantes’ attack has been blunt even by French standards. Despite finishing eight points clear of the relegation places in the 2014-15 season in 14th place, Nantes were outscored by all three relegated clubs, ending with just 29 league goals from their 38 games. In the following season, when they again finished 14th, they were outscored by every club apart from the hapless Troyes.

Stoic displays under Der Zakarian disintegrated into insipid performances under Girard as both men struggled to give the team any drive. Kolbeinn Sigthorsson was supposedly a marquee signing but he scored just three goals in the league last season before moving on to Galatasaray. Diamond midfields, 4-4-2s and 4-3-3s came and went as forwards Yacine Bammou, Emiliano Sala and Mariusz Stepinski failed to find any consistency. After 16 games this season, the team were in 19th place, having scored nine goals, won three matches and secured 13 points, which makes Conceição’s revolution even more remarkable.

Nantes desperately needed to be awaken from their lumbering run and Kita was forced to change tack. Having originally said that “the coach must know the players and the championship” he instead started searching for “someone who has nothing to do with French football and nothing to see in relation to the atmosphere that reigns at this moment in Nantes – I thought the best solution was to get someone from outside, who does not deal with all these problems.”

Conceição fitted the new criteria perfectly and he made an immediate impression. “As soon as he arrived in Paris on the first day, I saw that he was not afraid of anyone. He will bring us a different culture and vision. He has already started giving ideas to change things. It’s fun because we fell into monotony. We all need a certain organisation and discipline.” This was a keen appraisal of their situation. Discipline has been the watchword under Conceição, with players subjected to double training sessions and a stricter, more precise style of management. “We have worked a lot on the organisation,” explained full-back Léo Dubois. “We feel that he has watched a lot of videos, he has a mentality that we know little in France.”

That mentality has perhaps been the starkest change from Girard’s era. The already fiery Conceição – who once reacted to being sent off by spitting at an opponent and throwing his shirt at a referee – began his tenure with the air of a parent who had been disgusted to discover that his children had behaved badly at school. A zero-tolerance attitude ensued. Breakout midfield talent, 19-year-old Amine Harit, was banished to the reserves after breaking the manager’s rules on a night out and has not started since despite apologising. The previously ever-present goalkeeper Rémy Riou was dropped to the bench after a poor display at Bastia and has yet to return to the starting XI, while forward Stepinski was withdrawn before half-time in a recent home game after an anonymous display. The sedate leadership of Girard has gone and the players are now constantly on alert.

The increase in intensity has translated into a series of hungry, committed and more aggressive performances. Conceição’s men have only lost three of his 14 league games, two of which came against Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco. But perhaps most eye-catching of his achievements so far has been is ability to cajole his previously dormant strikeforce into some lethal displays, with 13 goals in their last seven league games compared to three in the seven before he arrived.

Powerful Argentinian striker Emiliano Sala had done little for Bordeaux and Nantes, but his performances since Conceição’s arrival have been startling. Their leading scorer with nine league goals (a respectable tally in Ligue 1), and eight in total under Conceição, Sala has bullied and hassled centre-backs, proved himself to be a constant a threat from set pieces and showed that his finishing can be both spectacular and clinical.

Although Conceição has lofty expectations of his players, he has also proved to be an adept man-manager. After some poor displays and an on-pitch disagreement with a colleague resulting abuse from the Beaujoire crowd, Yacine Bammou was thrown in from the start for the visit of Dijon back in February, Conceição taking issue with the treatment of his striker: “I do not agree because we’re all in the same boat. He made a mistake perhaps and I understand the fans who are angry at that time. But now it’s past. He gives everything, he’s a nice guy and a good player too. I want Yacine to score a goal and everyone to applaud him.” Bammou scored the opener inside three minutes in a 3-1 win after well over a year without a goal at home.

However, Conceição’s first few weeks in Eastern France were allegedly not as straightforward as results would suggest, with the pre-existing Nantes coaching staff reportedly being marginalised upon the introduction of the Portuguese’s own team, something that the new boss vehemently denied.

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Nevertheless, the 42-year old’s effect has been impressive across the squad; winger Jules Iloki, full-backs Lucas Lima and Dubois and midfielders Valentin Rongier and Adrien Thomasson have all returned to some of their best form, showing signs of emulating their coach’s fire, passion and intensity. The astute acquisitions of winger Felipe Pardo and dynamic forward Préjuce Nakoulma have added some much needed bite to the squad.

Nantes’ 1-1 draw with title-chasing Nice this weekend typified their swift evolution. A snap finish from the now pivotal Sala gave them an early lead before Jean Seri fired home an equaliser. Conceição was left livid as Nakoulma was denied a clear penalty in the second half. Although this was a fair result, when put next to the 3-2 win over Marseille and recent comebacks at Bastia and Montpellier, Nantes are proving themselves to be a major force in Ligue 1 under the new coach, now comfortably in mid-table with a European place not yet beyond their reach.

As their manager’s stock continues to rise, recently turning down the chance to take over at Leicester, Kita is aware of Conceição’s lofty status on shortlists around Europe: “If he has good results, he will not remain in Nantes if I do not give him more resources. The means a stadium, a training centre and players. As of next season, it will be necessary to give more resources.”

For his part Conceição is committed into next year, joking: “If President Kita does not change his mind, I will still be here next season.” Given the dramatic turnaround, even Kita will not be looking to let his manager go anytime soon. However, if the club continues in this form, he may not have much choice. Kita said he wanted “a manager capable of igniting the Beaujoire”. He has found one.

Ligue 1 talking points

• Much of the dissatisfaction surrounding Lorient’s calamitous season has centred around a lack of re-investment. The club had done well to command impressive fees for Raphaël Guerreiro and Didier N’Dong this summer but, aside from Steven Moreira, there was little sign of those transfer fees being reinvested into making up for their departures. Mathieu Peybernes and Alhassan Wakaso arrived in the winter window, but neither has done much to change the club’s fortunes, as Lorient continue to languish in last place. However, a thrilling win away to Nancy on Saturday, with Arnold Mvuemba scoring in the fifth minute of injury time to complete a comeback from 3-2 down, has given Bernard Casoni’s team a shred of hope. The win moves the side to within three points of safety. Veteran centre-back Wesley Lautoa has endured a difficult season, struggling through injury in autumn before being dropped for Peybernes in recent weeks but on Saturday he delivered an inspired performance and headed in an equaliser three minutes from time. Lorient’s goal difference means there is still much work to be done to achieve survival but if Lautoa can maintain this sort of form there may yet be hope for Ligue 1’s bottom club.

• Bastia managed to keep all 11 players on the pitch against Metz on Friday but they lost again, a cruel own goal from Gilles Cioni enough for the hosts to run out 1-0 winners. After four consecutive matches with a red card, Bastia had become a bit of a punchline. However, on the evidence from their trip to the Stade Saint-Symphorien, it is more than just ill-discipline that threatens relegation. Bordeaux loanee Enzo Crivelli remains the team’s leading scorer, on seven goals, but he has featured in just three matches since the turn of the year, and his absence seems to have bred a disturbing lack of trust among his team-mates. In Prince Oniangué, Allan Saint-Maximin and Gaël Danic (suspended in this match), Bastia should have enough attacking talent to cope without the big centre-forward, but the way the players relate to each other on the pitch reveals a frustrating propensity towards individualism. Talented though they may be, Bastia’s attackers need to trust each other, share the ball and rely less on their individual talent. Between them, Saint-Maximin and Lenny Nangis, in for Danic, lost the ball nearly 20 times, attempting only 37 combined passes, totals which made even a normally poor Metz defence look good. Just three points from safety, Bastia still have every chance of survival, but unless Rui Almeida can inspire his players to have more faith in each other, relegation looks a more probable outcome.

• Angers had won five straight matches in all competitions before getting thumped by Marseille last weekend, but they were back to winning ways against Guingamp on Saturday, topping the Breton side 3-0. Jonathan Bamba, who on loan from Saint-Étienne after an underwhelming spell in Belgium, has been key to their recent form. The youngster has scored just two goals but his pace and dribbling have allowed Angers to stretch opponents’ back lines with greater ease. Bamba has also displaced Nicolas Pepé, the team’s highly rated Ivorian, who was linked with a winter move to the Premier League, but has started just twice in the league since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations.

• Djibril Sidibé is more than likely to keep his starting spot as France’s right-back when Les Bleus face Luxembourg and Spain. Bacary Sagna has pulled out with an injury; Christophe Jallet has struggled with his own issues; and Sébastien Corchia has been in poor form for the last six weeks. Spare a thought, too, for Mathieu Debuchy, who displayed good form during a loan spell at Bordeaux last season but has barely featured for Arsenal. In need of competition for Sidibé, who missed Monaco’s win over Caen through suspension, Didier Deschamps could do worse than his club team-mate, Almamy Touré. Born in Mali, but still undecided over his international choice, the 20-year-old has been superb this season for the Ligue 1 leaders, combining a robust physical presence with a sounder defensive approach than Sidibé, whose attacking gifts frequently mask his defensive frailties. A call-up for the U21 side may seem a more logical next step for Touré, but with France having failed to qualify for the summer’s European Championship in that youth category, there is little point to bringing Touré into a meaningless friendly when he appears to be ready to make an impact at the senior level.